Jean Marc Vallée

Early life

Vallée was born on March 9, 1963 in Montreal, Quebec. He studied filmmaking at the Collège Ahuntsic and the Université du Québec à Montréal.

Early work

In the 1990s, Vallée produced a number of short films that aroused considerable critical interest. In 1991, Stereotypes, a fantastique comedy inspired by some American classic films, received numerous prizes at several events, including Best Promising Director for Vallée at the Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois. Vallée later adopted a more personal and autobiographical tone with Les Fleurs magiques (1995) and Les Mots magiques (1998), awarded respectively Best Short Film at the 16th Genie Awards and the 1st Jutra Awards, in which the director explored the relationship between father and son.

Vallée made his feature-length debut in 1995 with Liste noire (Black List), which became the highest-grossing film in Quebec that year and received nine Genie Award notimations, including Best Motion Picture and Best Achievement in Direction. In the wake of this success, Vallée moved to Los Angeles where he directed Los Locos (1998), a Western film written by and starring Mario Van Peebles, and Loser Love (1999). After these two low-budget productions, he directed two episodes of the television series The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne (2000).

C.R.A.Z.Y.

During the mid-1990s, Vallée was preparing C.R.A.Z.Y. from a screenplay inspired by his own youth and the one of his co-writer, François Boulay. Vallée wanted to shoot the film in the United States, but his friend Michel Côté, who also starred in Black List, convinced him to shoot in Quebec. After ten years in production, C.R.A.Z.Y. was finally released in 2005 and became one of the most successful films in Quebec history, both financially and critically. It tells the story of Zachary Beaulieu, a young man dealing with homophobia and heterosexism while growing up with four brothers and a conservative father in 1960s and 1970s Quebec. The role of Zachary Beaulieu was portrayed by Marc-André Grondin, while Michel Côté and Danielle Proulx starred as Zachary's parents. C.R.A.Z.Y. had its world premiere at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival and was awarded Best Canadian Feature Film. It received unanimous praise from film critics, with the film aggregator website, Rotten Tomatoes, giving the film a 100% "Certified Fresh" rating, based on reviews from 17 critics. It received several accolades, including eleven Genie Awards and thirteen Jutra Awards. C.R.A.Z.Y. was also selected as Canada's official submission for the 2005 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

The Young Victoria

After the success of C.R.A.Z.Y., Graham King and Martin Scorsese hired Jean-Marc Vallée to direct the period drama The Young Victoria. Written by Julian Fellowes, the film is based on the early life and reign of Queen Victoria, and her marriage to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The film stars Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend, Paul Bettany, Miranda Richardson and Jim Broadbent among a large ensemble cast. Critical reception was generally positive and the film was nominated for three Academy Awards, winning the 2009 Academy Award for Best Costume Design.

Café de Flore

In 2011, Vallée wrote and directed Café de Flore, a love story between a man and woman, and between a mother and her son. The film starred Vanessa Paradis, Kevin Parent, Hélène Florent, and Evelyne Brochu. It was acclaimed by film critics and garnered thirteen nominations for the 32nd Genie Awards.

Dallas Buyers Club

Vallée's next film, Dallas Buyers Club, starred Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto and Jennifer Garner. The film is based on the true-life tale of Ron Woodroof, a Texas electrician diagnosed with AIDS and given 30 days to live, who began smuggling alternative medicine into the United States to help himself and other AIDS patients. The film was released in 2013 to critical acclaim, earning Matthew McConaughey the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor and Jared Leto a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay, and conquered the awards for Best Actor for McConaughey, and Best Supporting Actor for Leto, repeating the Golden Globes. Vallée also received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Film Editing under his alias, John Mac McMurphy.

Wild

Vallée's film Wild, starring Reese Witherspoon, premiered on August 29, 2014 at the Telluride Film Festival, and was also featured at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8 and the San Diego Film Festival on September 24. It was released in North America on December 5, 2014.

In May 2015, Vallée received the National Arts Centre Award, a companion award of the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards, given to an artist in recognition of work of an extraordinary nature over the previous performance year.

The film was nominated for two Academy Awards, Best Actress for Reese Witherspoon, and Best Supporting Actress for Laura Dern.

Personal life

Vallée is married to Nadia Live, and they have two children, Émile and Alex.

Reception

Critical and commercial reception to films Vallée has directed as of April 19, 2015.